Tourism, i.e. travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes, is one of the fastest growing industries in a national economy. It has become a popular global leisure activity. In 2008, there were over 922 million international tourist arrivals worldwide, with a growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007. Tourism provides communities with an opportunity to display their region’s distinct and unique cultural and natural assets while creating employment and diversifying the regional economy. A diverse economy is one that can cope with the changes experienced in our current environment.
Tourism is an industry like any other and requires sound planning and a firm commitment from the community to make it work. Like all economic activities, the benefits of tourism may create social and environmental impacts which need to be managed through a partnership approach and appropriate planning at a local level. For this reason, tourism needs to work in partnership with the other sectors of a regional economy including primary industries, local government and community organisations to name a few. In this way, tourism is integrated into the region’s future.
Wine tourism has emerged as a strong and growing area of special interest in most wine-producing countries, and represents an increasingly significant component of regional development and economic life.
So what is wine tourism, why is it growing, and what are some of the new trends that have accelerated the traditional tasting room visit into a whole new experience?
In broad terms, wine tourism is defined as visitation to vineyards, wineries, wine festivals, wine regions and wine shows for experiencing the enjoyment of grape wine tasting and to understand the attributes of the local wine culture. Therefore, wine tourism is designed to integrate sightseeing, leisure holidays and wine culture.
A grape growing region is an area suited by climate and soil conditions to the cultivation of a certain type of grape. Most varietal vines are cultivated not in one place only, but in several distinct regions in diverse parts of the world. Also, these areas tend to be off the beaten tourist track (although not that far off) so wine tourism can expose travellers to new and interesting areas. Wine growers are farmers, and their perspective on the local area, and life in general, tends to be different from other locals typically encountered while travelling. It is a kind of tourism highly developed in many regions around the world, and it can be as simple as hopping on a wine shuttle in Napa Valley or as complicated as renting a villa in the south of France for a month.
Wine tourism is a great way to learn about the people, culture, heritage, and customs of an area. Some of the famous wine producing regions of the world, particularly southern Europe, have been producing wine for centuries or even millennia, and the production and consumption of wine is deeply ingrained in the local culture. As the field of wine tourism continues to develop, it is important to understand what drives visitors to engage in this activity.
Wine tourists could be classified as international and domestic visitors, who visit a winery at least once while travelling in the region. For the oenophile (wine lover), wine tourism is a wonderful way to better understand “terroir”, the concept that wine makers often use to describe how the quality of the land in which the grapes are grown affects the taste of the wine. Tasting wine at a wine shop or in the comfort of home provides a hint of the terroir that produced the wine. But spending several days visiting the area, chatting with the wine makers and growers, and eating the local cuisine (which has evolved together with the wine for the two to perfectly complement each other) will provide an exceptional context for the wine and give deep insight into why and how the wine turned out the way it did.
With its wide range of benefits, including foreign-exchange earnings, the creation of both full- and part-time jobs, and the generation of secondary economic activity, wine tourism can engage local communities in promoting their heritage, generate substantial long-term wealth and sustain steady tourism growth, thus diversifying the regional economy. A diverse economy is one that can cope with the changes experienced in our current volatile economic environment. Consequently, support for and investment in the wine-tourism sector is now regarded as an essential regional-economic development strategy by governments and by the wine and tourism industries.
Wine tourism is an industry like any other and requires sound planning and a firm commitment from the community to make it work. Like all economic activities, the benefits of wine tourism may create social and environmental impacts which need to be managed through a partnership approach and appropriate planning at a local level. For this reason, tourism needs to work closely with the other sectors of a regional economy including primary industries, local government and community organisations to name a few. In this way, tourism is integrated into the region’s future.
However, the benefits from wine tourism in its wider sense for local communities go well beyond the direct economic impacts:
· Economic benefits: Visitors to a winery purchase wine and other locally produced goods and hospitality services. This spending injects new cash into the local economy.
· Employment opportunities: Wine tourism is a labour-intensive industry and creates many job opportunities, especially for young people who are then encouraged to stay in local communities. In the tourism, hospitality and recreation industries alone there are several categories of employment. Job opportunities created by tourism also assist areas experiencing the consequences of structural change.
· Diversification: Wine tourism can provide diversification, strengthening the local economy by making it less reliant on a single traditional base, such as agriculture which is subject to commodity price fluctuations. This is particularly significant for rural communities.
· Improved facilities for residents: The growth in wine tourism results in a new and expanded infrastructure, services and facilities which benefit residents, particularly in communities where these developments would otherwise not be viable. It also generates improved financial viability for community-owned facilities such as taverns, gift shops and recreational services.
· Opportunities for business: Wine tourism creates opportunities to establish new products, facilities and services, and expand existing businesses which would not otherwise be sustainable based on the resident population alone.
· Preservation of the environment, culture and heritage: Wine tourism highlights the need for proper management of local resources. Through effective policies, planning and research, tourism can ensure that the environment, heritage and indigenous culture of an area are preserved. Interpretation of a nature-based and heritage product is an important educational vehicle for promoting a better understanding of environmental and heritage values to a diverse population.
· A catalyst for residential development: In many places, visitors who initially travelled to a particular area have subsequently become residents, attracted by a better quality of life.
· Improved transport services: Wine tourism can stimulate the establishment of new and improved transport services to and within a local area or region.
· Educational opportunities: Wine tourism can provide expanded opportunities for residents through the introduction of adult education and specialised training courses.
· A broader social outlook: Wine tourism provides the opportunity for residents to interact with other people and cultures and brings new ideas into the community.
Research has shown that there are 10 major reasons which motivate people to visit wine regions: (1) to taste wine, (2) to gain wine knowledge, (3) to experience the wine setting, (e.g. meet the winemaker; tour cellars and vineyards), (4) to be in a rural setting (beauty of vineyards; learn about farming, agro-tourism), (5) to match food and wine-culinary tourism, (6) to have fun (wine festivals and events), (7) to enjoy wine culture (romance and elegance), (8) to appreciate the architecture and art, (9) to learn about the “green” aspects and eco-tourism, and (10) to enjoy the health aspects of wine.
To taste and buy wine are the most prevalent motivations for visiting a winery, with emphasis on enjoyable tasting experiences and finding interesting and special wines. Fun, knowledge and enjoyment are the primary values of a wine lover. Most visitors go to wineries to taste the wine and expand their knowledge in the field or to learn about the process of wine production, the history and heritage of local wine. They may wish to tour the vineyards and winery or meet the winemaker. In recent years, there has been further consumer growth and interest in dining and cooking, including the selection and matching of food and wine. Wine lovers everywhere are discovering that it’s more fun to drink their way through a vacation than to sit idle on, say, a beach reading the latest best-seller.
The growing phenomenon of wine, cuisine and agro-tourism experiences is a trend which has already arrived in many villages. However there are opportunities for offering potential customers a number of wine-associated experiences other than culinary-related fields. Examples include arts and crafts demonstrations at establishments, in which crafts are demonstrated alongside their sale to consumers. Many Europeans visit wine regions such as Burgundy and Tuscany to enjoy the good restaurants and appreciate the architecture of the ancient wine villages. However, there are those who claim that it is the romance and culture of wine that attracts them for an elegant get-away weekend. A smaller but growing majority provides reasons of agro- and eco-tourism to learn about grape growing, sustainable practices, and perhaps assist with the harvest as a primary motivation.
Finally, there are those who cite the healthful aspect of wine as a rationale to expand their visits to wine regions.
Recent trends show that wineries are no longer simply venues to taste and purchase wine. Many offer a complete tourism experience – services such as restaurants, accommodation, tours, picnic facilities and recreational facilities. Today’s winery is a place where consumers and visitors can interact with the product, the winemaker, and experience first hand the rich diversity that the wine region has to offer.
Research in popular wine producing areas shows that wine tourism travellers tend to be higher income earners. The majority of pleasure travellers who are motivated to travel by wine-related activities are well educated. The all important lasting positive impression of a visit to a winery is the key to a successful operation. Word of mouth customer-driven promotion based on positive experience is a powerful way to grow in this business area. There are many ways to evoke memory in visitors, from the wines themselves, the staff, the food on offer and architectural features, to the opportunity to observe a working winery. It is a combination of these and other things that create the winning impression. Different people will respond to different aspects of their visit, so it is important to focus on building a complete experience that reflects and complements the brand.
While it’s no new concept, the idea of wine tourism is starting to take root across the globe. From France to Germany and Australia to Chile , people are increasingly booking passage based less on the destination itself than on the wine produced in that destination. Wine tourism is providing a renewed sense of purpose for leisure time and it is not limited to wine aficionados. Thanks in part to concerted efforts by wine-producing regions to espouse their industry and leverage it for fun and profit, the wine tourism trend appears to be something travellers can appreciate. That is logical, since cultural tourism exists to satisfy a need for discovery – heritage, new wine regions, new old civilizations, new artefacts, new exhibitions, and new activities. Recent economic results in major wine producing regions have proven that the cultural tourism is, in fact, recession-proof. With the travel industry facing a worrying future during today’s economic turmoil, wine tourism may just be the trend that saves the day. Gone are the days of travel for travel’s sake – this is travel with a purpose. And what better purpose can there be than to drink wine?
The obvious benefit of increased wine tourism for wineries is increased sales due to more visitors. This is because 50%-90% of the time, depending on the size of the winery, a visitor will purchase at least one item, even if it is just a corkscrew. However, the actual act of allowing visitors taste the wine usually encourages them to make a wine purchase. A related benefit is higher margins, since the visitor is buying direct from the winery rather than having to go through distributors and retailers. Probably less recognized benefits include the opportunity to attract new customers and foster brand loyalty. Likewise, visitors can provide product feedback, effectively turning the tasting room into a customer research lab. Increased wine tourism can also assist in developing new links with the wine trade, because visitors may seek the wine at their local retailer when they return home. Finally, if implemented correctly, wine tourism can be positive for the whole community in increasing revenues for stores, restaurants, hotels and all of the employees who work in those establishments.
The consumers’ demand for authentic experiences and for more creative activities while at a destination will pressure change – not only the geographies of the cultural tourism, but also the relationship between the local community and visitors. These ties are expected to become closer and closer and have a positive impact on both sides of the equation.
Furthermore, it has been established that a number of businesses are directly or indirectly benefited by tourists who visit wineries, wine grape growers, and other wine related attractions. These industry clusters include governmental agencies at a variety of levels, vineyards, wineries / processing facilities, bottle and barrel traders, marketing organizations, trade and tourist publications, to name a few. Given the wide range of products and services required to support wine tourism, the cluster has both domestic and global implications for suppliers.
Wine tourism is a rapidly growing field of industry and academic interest with changes in the consumer markets in recent years, showing an enormous interest in “experiential” travel. Importantly, they note that the production of quality wine is still critical in winning over the consumer and that tourism activities will not provide a panacea for regions with unknown or poor reputations.
On the flipside, wine tourism can also be challenging to implement. It requires strong cooperation and partnership within the community. Without restaurants, hotels, police, medical agencies, local government for permits, environmental groups, employment services, and road agencies and other infrastructure support, wine tourism cannot succeed. Financial support must be obtained, and a marketing campaign designed which includes not only brochures and a website, but signage, event planning and evaluation. Most successful wine tourism efforts invest in a regional branding program and elect a board of directors to guide the process. Finally, care must be taken to protect the environment and rural beauty of the vineyards so that the region maintains its charm and reason to be a wine destination.
During the last few years, many innovations have been introduced in the wine scenery in Cyprus . A recent addition is the Wine Routes of Cyprus. Wine lovers can now taste a selection of great value quality wines on a variety of way-marked routes, whilst enjoying the breathtaking Cypriot scenery along the way. You don’t need to be a wine expert to enjoy wine-tasting or a guided tour to a winery and its vineyard.
Cyprus vine areas are mainly located in the Limassol and Paphos districts. Anyone can easily build a Cyprus wine tour. However, for your convenience the Cyprus Wine Commission in cooperation with the Cyprus Tourism Organisation has designated four wine routes traversing the vine growing villages of these two districts.
1. Akamas-Laona (Paphos District): Located along the western coast of Cyprus and at an altitude of around 600m, this area comprises the six village communities of Drousia, Inia, Kathikas, Kritou Terra, Pano Arodes and Kato Arodes.
2. Vouni Panayias–Ambelitis (Paphos District): At an altitude of over 800m, this area comprises the regions of Ambelitis, Galataria, Kilinia and Panayia in the western part of the island.
3. Pitsilia (Limassol District): This region of origin comprises of 32 villages all situated on the slopes of Madari located east and south east of Troodos. The 32 villages are: Ayia Irene , Ayios Ioannis, Ayios Theodoros, Agridia, Agros, Alithinou, Alona, Apliki, Askas, Dymes, Farmakas, Fikardou, Fterikoudi, Gouri, Handria, Kambi, Kannavia, Kato Mylos, Kourdali, Kyperounda, Lagoudera, Lazania, Livadia, Odou, Palehori, Pelendri, Platanistasa, Polystypos, Potamitissa, Saranti, Spilia and Sykopetra.
4. The wine villages (“krassochoria”) of the Limassol District: On the southern slopes of the Troodos mountains facing Limassol lies a constellation of 20 villages known as the wine villages. These constitute the fourth region of appellation of origin, as follows: Pano Kyvides, Ayios Amvrosios, Ayios Therapon, Pachna, Malia, Arsos, Vasa, Dora, Kissousa, Potamiou, Omodos, Kilani, Vouni, Kouka, Lofou, Mandria, Pera Pedi, Trimiklini, Trozena.
All these areas are renowned for their vineyards and delightful hillside villages. Here, the old forms of viticulture are still kept alive and wine production is still the main occupation for most of the inhabitants. A number of small wineries welcome visitors on wine tasting tours. You can visit the wineries in the region along the wine roads, tasting wines that have won international awards. Look for the wineries or individual residences that have signs which show they offer wine. A number of agro-tourism establishments can be found in most areas including restaurants serving authentic Cypriot cuisine.
Always have in mind that “wine is always best when it is drunk near its own soil”.
Wine News and Information
· Several studies have shown that moderate consumption of wine is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Two new studies suggest that wine does play a role and that chemicals in the grapes may help. Previous studies have postulated that the lower rate of type 2 diabetes among moderate alcohol drinkers is due to a healthier lifestyle. After analyzing 10 years worth of data, including 796 cases of type 2 diabetes, the researchers concluded that the lower rate of the disease among drinkers cannot be explained by a healthier lifestyle alone. Alcohol, in some way, contributed directly to a lower incidence of the disease — drinkers had a roughly 40% lower risk compared to abstainers. Research from the University of Michigan finds that eating grapes seems to slow development of high blood pressure and insulin resistance. Both are the leading precursors to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Together, the two create a condition known as metabolic syndrome, which affects 50 million Americans.
· Women may play a central role in the future of wine consumption in China , according to new research by Vinexpo. The study undertaken by the company surveyed the behaviour of 2,810 women in four Asian countries to compare and contrast their consumer habits, depending on whether they lived in China , Japan , Hong Kong or South Korea . The research found that: Over 40% of female consumers in Japan , the most established wine market in Asia , drink wine more than twice a week.
o About 50% of the Chinese women surveyed were solely responsible for purchasing their wine, never seeking recommendations from third parties, whereas Japanese women often allow other parties to influence them when choosing wine.
o 92% of the Japanese respondents and 74% of the Koreans interviewed selected wine for its taste.
o Health is a big concern for female consumers in China . 38% claim that they drink wine because it is good for health, while only 22% claim to drink wine for its taste. One area of consensus for Asian female wine lovers is their preference for red wine.
o More than two Asian women out of three prefer red wine in contrast to women in the UK and the US , who consume much larger quantities of white wine.
o Wine intelligence research shows that 55% of all wine purchased in the UK is bought by women, and that western women buy wine primarily for enjoyment and social reasons, rather than perceived health benefits.
Monolithos Monthly News
The never-ending job of caring for the vineyard continues. The vineyards are inspected, weeded and sprayed, as weeds constantly compete with the grapevines for nutrients. The vines are again trimmed to encourage fruit production. June is the month of caring for the new crop. As the grapes flourish, so do the weeds. It’s important to clear this competition from the producing grape vines because it will affect the quality and quantity of the harvest. Removing all excess leaves around the clusters facilitates their growth. Additionally, sulphur is widely used to control powdery mildew on grapes. Fruit and leaf “burning” may occur if sulphur is applied during slow drying conditions or when temperatures are above 27°C.
At the winery, the 2009 vintage wines are going through bottle ageing. All wines are available for tasting. If at any time you are passing near the village of Pachna and wish to visit the winery or purchase any of our products, Martin Wood will be pleased to meet and assist you at his “Fig Tree Villa” in Pachna, so do not hesitate to call him at 25-816212 or 99-165995. We thank you for your continued support, and would remind you of the words of William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Othello, II. iii. (315)
“Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used”.
Showing posts with label Cyprus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyprus. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Friday, 27 November 2009
Cyprus Wine Blog - December 2009
The holiday season is now upon us with many joyous activities for all the family. Of course, it also brings with it the ubiquitous holiday parties as well – thrown by friends, colleagues at work or, again, family. Therefore, most people are now about to tackle the difficult task of purchasing wines that can be paired with festive delicacies. This short article attempts to address the issue with some tips and suggestions.
First, do not stress out! This is the holiday period, a time generally rife with enough stress that the choice of what wine to bring to a party should not cause any more. Holidays are supposed to be fun – remember that, if you remember anything.
Some people are under the impression that hosting a party involves purchasing the most expensive wine they can find, wine that would impress even the most seasoned connoisseur. However, when it comes down to it, the price of wine is not nearly as important as the variety.
Holiday parties typically consist of a large variety of refreshments. Therefore, it is important to purchase wines that are “easy” to accompany anything you prepare. The simplest way to do this is to purchase at least one red and one white wine.
First of all, remember to differentiate between the full-bodied and light-bodied wines. These terms apply for reds as well as for whites. For instance, some of the most famous light-bodied white wines are the Muscadet, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Xynisteri, while some of the full-bodied white wines are the Chardonnay or barrel-fermented Sauvignon. On the other hand, some of the light-bodied red wines include Beaujolais , Rioja, Chianti, Sangiovese, and the Cypriot Mavro. Finally, some of the most famous full-bodied red wines include the Syrah/ Shiraz , Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.
Buy local – yes, you may well spend €1 or €2 more for each bottle of wine you purchase relative to the cheap imported wines. However, by visiting local wineries or specialised wine shops, you will be able to ask questions and get advice on what wines to buy during this season, or even taste and select what appeals to you.
Buy a variety of wines in different price ranges. If you choose some wines in a medium price range – say €8 per bottle (Monolithos Cabernet Sauvignon), consider also purchasing some less expensive wines such as Ayios Stephanos Red (€5) for later in the evening. After two to three glasses of wine, most people would never notice when you switch them over to a €5 bottle. Therefore, you could save some cash; there is no need to spend, just for the sake of spending.
Wine should complement the food, rather than dominate it – light food, light wine; heavier food, heavier wine. Soups, salads and light dishes will taste best when accompanied by light, usually white, wines. More robust foods, such as steak and pasta, can handle bigger, full-bodied reds.
Buy several of the same type – you do not want to buy one bottle of something and run out, just as people realize that they like it.
Drink the wine you enjoy – do not conform to what the world says you have to like. In reality, most wines will not ruin a meal, but good choices can raise the level of gastronomic satisfaction from enjoyable to memorable.
Many people struggle with selecting the proper wine to serve at their holiday meal, so remember – when in doubt, sparkling wines and champagne are a safe bet with just about anything. The bubbles and acidity in sparklers have a cleansing effect on the palate to prepare you for another bite, whether you’re eating salty, bitter, spicy or sour food.
Go universal with the glass – there is simply no need to buy all those different glasses. While it may seem eclectic to serve wine in water glasses to you, your guests may look at that as a mark of bad taste. When you go to look at wine glasses, you will quickly find out that there is a wide range of styles and prices available. If this is a rare event in your home, then purchase simple, clear and inexpensive glasses than can complement your table without bleeding your wallet dry. If you buy a decent set of glasses with a tulip shape, it should cover most of your needs.
Most people are about to tackle the difficult task of purchasing wines that can be paired with the special foods of the season. Apart from the universal saying of “drink what you like”, here are a few useful tips to help you select the proper holiday wine.
. Forget about all the traditional reprimands, like pairing red wines with red meat and white wines with seafood.
. Balance the flavour intensity between the wine and the dish. Do not forget to look at the flavours of the sauce too.
. When serving more than one wine at a meal, start with a light wine and work your way through the meal to the fuller-bodied wines, ending with a sweet wine.
. Try pairing full-bodied wines, either red or white, with full-flavoured foods, and lighter wines with lighter food items. Look at how the dish is prepared. Delicate flavoured foods, poached or steamed, are best paired with delicate wines, whereas roasted dishes are often better with full-bodied heavier wines.
. Match “like for like”, for example spicy food with spicy wine, subtly flavoured dishes with delicate light wines, sweet wine with sweet dishes etc.
. Attempt to balance the sweetness, but most importantly, never serve a wine that is drier than the food or you will end with a flat, dull tasting wine.
. Do not forget, that not all red wines complement all cheeses. Blue cheese/Stilton certainly work very well with a sweet enough white wine. Goat’s cheese works much better with aromatic or dry white wine than with reds for example. Soft cheeses like Camembert and Brie should be served with either full flavoured Chardonnays or soft ripe Merlots.
. Foods with sauces generally require a medium to full-bodied wine.
. Boiled, steamed or lightly sautéed food should be matched with dry and light white wines.
. Chicken, pork or veal are best suited with any full-bodied white wine.
. Spicy food items and off-dry white wines make an excellent match.
. Fat rich food items like foie gras and cheese should be paired with sweet wines.
. Sweet dishes and desserts go very well with wines that have high apparent sweet flavours.
. Roast beef or steaks: Merlots go well with roasted meats, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. For roast beef, lamb and pork, Cabernet Sauvignon is an ideal choice here. Merlot and meaty Syrahs are also great matches. The proteins in the meat will help smooth out the tannins in these big, bold wines.
. Grilled or roast lamb: The most appropriate wine with this is Syrah/Shiraz.
The idea is to create a relationship where the wine and food are equal partners in the match. Foods that are high in saltiness, bitterness, sourness and sweetness limit the possibilities when matching wines with these foods. Traditional holiday foods like turkey, ham and all the trimmings create issues in this regard. Turkey itself can be paired with a number of wines, but things become complicated with the addition of various sauces because it could become sweet, sour and bitter all at once.
Sometimes the best choice is to offer both red and white wines and let the guests choose for themselves. Provide a couple glasses at each guest’s table setting and let him or her try a splash of white here, a sip of red there, comparing and contrasting before settling on a favourite. Offering a few choices can also make for fun dinner conversation. You can also split the difference and go with a sparkling rose.
During the winter holiday season, red wines should be served at room temperature. However, if you keep your reds in the kitchen, and your kitchen is an oven after many hours of dinner preparation, move the bottles to a slightly cooler room, like the basement or an unheated utility room. Typically, most people serve whites too cold and reds too warm. If you keep your wine in the refrigerator (5°C), take them out about 15 minutes before serving, whilst the red wine should be taken out at least one hour beforehand. The palate of the host, of course, always determines the ideal temperature, but a good range to aim at is between about 14°-18°C. And serve lighter reds a little cooler than heavier reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon.
The exact amount of poured glasses to a bottle of wine is pretty well impossible to define. Many standard wine servings suggest four to six glasses of wine per 750ml bottle. Keep this in mind when buying for the group.
Think food friendly and affordable. This is particularly true if you are going to a larger, more casual party. Do not spend a lot here – you never know if it is going to be opened as soon as you walk in or who will be drinking it. Try to pick a food-friendly, versatile wine that will go well with a wide range of foods. While there are certain vintages that are expensive, it is relatively easy to find bottles that are not extremely high priced; with some searching, or asking close friends, you can buy first-rate red and white wines at prices below €10.
The holiday season brings with it the challenge of finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Wine accessories are important items that will help the enjoyment of wine – they can be practical gifts for birthday or Christmas presents.
There are many different wine accessories, which wine drinkers purchase in order to make their wine experience complete. The range of products includes wine coolers, wine buckets, champagne bowls, wine decanters, wine glasses, wine bottle stoppers, wine table mats, wine openers, wine foil cutters, wine racks, etc. Whether you are a keen wine enthusiast, a social wine drinker or simply wish to buy a present for a friend, you may find an interesting read in the following tips and advice.
. Wine makes a great holiday gift. It is portable. It is festive. It is timely, with people entertaining more during the holiday season. Wine can be quickly gift-wrapped and tied with a bow or slipped into a decorative paper or cloth wine bag. In addition, wine certainly is easy to find.
. If you end up with several opened but unfinished bottles of wine, there are ways to preserve them. One way is to refrigerate them. The cold climate will slow the chemical changes that are conspiring to turn your wine to vinegar. Another method is to transfer the leftover wine into a smaller bottle. This helps because a smaller bottle will have less wine-trashing air in it. You can also buy fancy vacuum contraptions that suck the air out of the bottle. Alternatively, perhaps best of all, you can gather the crowd around the table the next evening for a feast of leftovers and finish what you started.
Food Pairing with Monolithos wines:
The following constitutes a basic guide for Monolithos wines which could be best suited to some popular Christmas and holiday season foods. Of course, this is not definitive, but if you have trouble choosing, it may help to make up your mind.
First, in terms of white wine selection, choose one with an adequate amount of acidity and fruitiness to match your entrée. Monolithos White and Ayios Stephanos White belong to this category of wines, with Monolithos White having a higher level of acidity. If you are selecting a red wine, choose Monolithos Merlot or Monolithos Red, both of which have a sense of fruitiness and are relatively low in tannin.
Second, always try to match regional food with corresponding local wines. They work because they have developed together over time and so have a natural affinity for each other.
Monolithos White: This is a very good match with lots of seafood. It has a pleasant acidic tang, and makes seafood taste fresh, just like a bright squeeze of lemon! Remember that taste is a funny thing, and the wine that is best alone is not necessarily the best with food. For example, a white wine that seems too acidic on its own is often fabulous with creamy or salty foods, as the acid reduces the oiliness of the cream and the cream tempers the acid, resulting in significantly enhanced flavours for both.
Monolithos Red: This is ideal with tomato-based pasta sauce and pizza, as it does not shy away from the acid in the tomatoes, and is also highly agreeable with local dishes such as meat stew, “moussaka”, “souvlakia” and “shieftalia”.
Ayios Stephanos White: This works so well because of its Malvasia touch of sweetness, which can help take the sting off the heat of spicy dishes.
Santa Monica Rose: A fun holiday wine that is great to serve at a party. Not only is this rose visually appealing, but also the flavours are wonderfully fruity, containing a combination of blackberry, plum and strawberries. It offers a good match with a large number of cheeses, enhancing the contrast of flavours. It is a delicate rose wine, which is superb with turkey, ham or tuna steak and salmon.
Ayios Stephanos Red: This successful blend is sure to satisfy a wide range of wine lovers. It is a medium to full-bodied wine with predominantly fruity and berry flavours, leaving a pleasantly smooth feel. It is food-friendly, affordable, and highly recommended to accompany red meat dishes, poultry, pasta (particularly those dishes with tomato sauce), strong savoury cheeses or salads – this fine blend wine can handle them all well.
Monolithos Merlot: This is one of those wines that have come in fashion over the past decade. This smooth as silk premium red variety is the ideal wine for the committed white wine drinker to sample as an entrée into the rich and exciting world of reds. The taste/aroma is predominantly fruity and peppery with hints of blackberry, blackcurrant, raspberry and plum and a delightfully “silky” feel. It is extremely versatile when it comes to food pairing options, and is perfect to enjoy with Italian and Greek dishes, red meats such as steak and roast lamb, or a good white meat including duck or even a platter of fish if you so desire. Stews are also a good choice, as are hearty pastas that use a tomato sauce base. Other dishes include pasta with vegetables, chicken, turkey, couscous, veal, cheese courses and (hot or cold) spicy entrees.
Monolithos Shiraz: As a Christmas wine, it is highly recommended and top-rated. Its dark red spiciness is perfect for the winter holidays and is particularly good when served with grilled or roast lamb. It is also a perfect match to enjoy with red meat, white meat, and pizza/pasta dishes. Syrah is a very versatile wine that pairs well with a wide variety of foods, including wild game, richly flavoured red meats, beef stew, grilled meats or veggies and meat lover’s pizzas. It is terrific with filet mignon, pork dishes, sausages, BBQ, bacon, spicy Mexican, highly seasoned food and fish dishes, particularly those with shellfish and tuna. The 2008 vintage is a joy to drink and there is plenty of it – try it and you will understand why.
Monolithos Cabernet Sauvignon: Talk about wine royalty! It all began in Bordeaux and is the world’s best-known grape variety, which explains why it is right at the top of the vineyard hierarchy. The taste/aroma is predominantly blackcurrant and peppery, but variations include touches of redcurrant, plum or even blackberry. It is a perfect match with red meat dishes, including steak with rich sauces. The proteins and fats in the steak really soften and mellow out the tannins in the wine and bring forward the fruit flavours. Foods with a slight touch of bitterness (such as the bitterness from a grill) match well with tannic wines, which are slightly bitter. Cabernet Sauvignon is great for this, although you should take care that it does not utterly overwhelm the food. Basic vegetable dishes, vegetarian meals, salads and peppery foods as well as cheeses, particularly goat varieties hard and soft are good complements.
The above are time-tested pairings. All things being equal, we do believe this:
Your Christmas will be merrier, and your holiday season more gratifying as a whole, when you pair them with the best wines for the time of year. Very likely, you will hit on your own great matches as you go about experimenting with food and wine. Remember, even for a wine expert, the pairing process is a hit and a miss. No one can be certain what to expect when he or she opens a bottle of wine. With so much happening in the bottle, there are just too many variables at work to be certain. So just enjoy the experiment – and the experience. You will know when you have hit it just right. The experience will seem seamless: the flavours of the wine will pick up the flavours of the food and extend them out across the palate. That is chemistry for you.
Holiday parties can be hard to plan. However, with the above tips, you should at least have the wine list taken care of, leaving you free to worry about food and decor instead. More than anything, when this time of year is upon us, keep in mind that holidays are a time for camaraderie, family, and love – three entities that not even the most expensive vintage can rival. On the other hand, if you need a break from that hectic schedule of the holiday season, relax and enjoy a glass of wine as you curl up with your favourite book or TV programme while the cold north wind blows outside.
Now with the coming of the winter holidays and traditional feasts with a plentiful menu and many cheerful guests, it is an ideal time to try our multiple wines. Monolithos products cater for a wide range of palates because we believe that the consumer must have a choice. After all, the truth is that:
“If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul.”
Clifton Fadiman
If at any time you are passing near the village of Pachna and wish to visit the winery or purchase any of our products, Martin Wood will be pleased to meet and assist you at his “Fig Tree Villa” in Pachna, so do not hesitate to phone him at 25-816212 or 99-165995.
May the Holiday Season bring only happiness and joy to you and your loved ones! Cheers and seasons greetings from all of us here at Monolithos.
First, do not stress out! This is the holiday period, a time generally rife with enough stress that the choice of what wine to bring to a party should not cause any more. Holidays are supposed to be fun – remember that, if you remember anything.
Some people are under the impression that hosting a party involves purchasing the most expensive wine they can find, wine that would impress even the most seasoned connoisseur. However, when it comes down to it, the price of wine is not nearly as important as the variety.
Holiday parties typically consist of a large variety of refreshments. Therefore, it is important to purchase wines that are “easy” to accompany anything you prepare. The simplest way to do this is to purchase at least one red and one white wine.
First of all, remember to differentiate between the full-bodied and light-bodied wines. These terms apply for reds as well as for whites. For instance, some of the most famous light-bodied white wines are the Muscadet, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Xynisteri, while some of the full-bodied white wines are the Chardonnay or barrel-fermented Sauvignon. On the other hand, some of the light-bodied red wines include Beaujolais , Rioja, Chianti, Sangiovese, and the Cypriot Mavro. Finally, some of the most famous full-bodied red wines include the Syrah/ Shiraz , Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.
Buy local – yes, you may well spend €1 or €2 more for each bottle of wine you purchase relative to the cheap imported wines. However, by visiting local wineries or specialised wine shops, you will be able to ask questions and get advice on what wines to buy during this season, or even taste and select what appeals to you.
Buy a variety of wines in different price ranges. If you choose some wines in a medium price range – say €8 per bottle (Monolithos Cabernet Sauvignon), consider also purchasing some less expensive wines such as Ayios Stephanos Red (€5) for later in the evening. After two to three glasses of wine, most people would never notice when you switch them over to a €5 bottle. Therefore, you could save some cash; there is no need to spend, just for the sake of spending.
Wine should complement the food, rather than dominate it – light food, light wine; heavier food, heavier wine. Soups, salads and light dishes will taste best when accompanied by light, usually white, wines. More robust foods, such as steak and pasta, can handle bigger, full-bodied reds.
Buy several of the same type – you do not want to buy one bottle of something and run out, just as people realize that they like it.
Drink the wine you enjoy – do not conform to what the world says you have to like. In reality, most wines will not ruin a meal, but good choices can raise the level of gastronomic satisfaction from enjoyable to memorable.
Many people struggle with selecting the proper wine to serve at their holiday meal, so remember – when in doubt, sparkling wines and champagne are a safe bet with just about anything. The bubbles and acidity in sparklers have a cleansing effect on the palate to prepare you for another bite, whether you’re eating salty, bitter, spicy or sour food.
Go universal with the glass – there is simply no need to buy all those different glasses. While it may seem eclectic to serve wine in water glasses to you, your guests may look at that as a mark of bad taste. When you go to look at wine glasses, you will quickly find out that there is a wide range of styles and prices available. If this is a rare event in your home, then purchase simple, clear and inexpensive glasses than can complement your table without bleeding your wallet dry. If you buy a decent set of glasses with a tulip shape, it should cover most of your needs.
Most people are about to tackle the difficult task of purchasing wines that can be paired with the special foods of the season. Apart from the universal saying of “drink what you like”, here are a few useful tips to help you select the proper holiday wine.
. Forget about all the traditional reprimands, like pairing red wines with red meat and white wines with seafood.
. Balance the flavour intensity between the wine and the dish. Do not forget to look at the flavours of the sauce too.
. When serving more than one wine at a meal, start with a light wine and work your way through the meal to the fuller-bodied wines, ending with a sweet wine.
. Try pairing full-bodied wines, either red or white, with full-flavoured foods, and lighter wines with lighter food items. Look at how the dish is prepared. Delicate flavoured foods, poached or steamed, are best paired with delicate wines, whereas roasted dishes are often better with full-bodied heavier wines.
. Match “like for like”, for example spicy food with spicy wine, subtly flavoured dishes with delicate light wines, sweet wine with sweet dishes etc.
. Attempt to balance the sweetness, but most importantly, never serve a wine that is drier than the food or you will end with a flat, dull tasting wine.
. Do not forget, that not all red wines complement all cheeses. Blue cheese/Stilton certainly work very well with a sweet enough white wine. Goat’s cheese works much better with aromatic or dry white wine than with reds for example. Soft cheeses like Camembert and Brie should be served with either full flavoured Chardonnays or soft ripe Merlots.
. Foods with sauces generally require a medium to full-bodied wine.
. Boiled, steamed or lightly sautéed food should be matched with dry and light white wines.
. Chicken, pork or veal are best suited with any full-bodied white wine.
. Spicy food items and off-dry white wines make an excellent match.
. Fat rich food items like foie gras and cheese should be paired with sweet wines.
. Sweet dishes and desserts go very well with wines that have high apparent sweet flavours.
. Roast beef or steaks: Merlots go well with roasted meats, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. For roast beef, lamb and pork, Cabernet Sauvignon is an ideal choice here. Merlot and meaty Syrahs are also great matches. The proteins in the meat will help smooth out the tannins in these big, bold wines.
. Grilled or roast lamb: The most appropriate wine with this is Syrah/Shiraz.
The idea is to create a relationship where the wine and food are equal partners in the match. Foods that are high in saltiness, bitterness, sourness and sweetness limit the possibilities when matching wines with these foods. Traditional holiday foods like turkey, ham and all the trimmings create issues in this regard. Turkey itself can be paired with a number of wines, but things become complicated with the addition of various sauces because it could become sweet, sour and bitter all at once.
Sometimes the best choice is to offer both red and white wines and let the guests choose for themselves. Provide a couple glasses at each guest’s table setting and let him or her try a splash of white here, a sip of red there, comparing and contrasting before settling on a favourite. Offering a few choices can also make for fun dinner conversation. You can also split the difference and go with a sparkling rose.
During the winter holiday season, red wines should be served at room temperature. However, if you keep your reds in the kitchen, and your kitchen is an oven after many hours of dinner preparation, move the bottles to a slightly cooler room, like the basement or an unheated utility room. Typically, most people serve whites too cold and reds too warm. If you keep your wine in the refrigerator (5°C), take them out about 15 minutes before serving, whilst the red wine should be taken out at least one hour beforehand. The palate of the host, of course, always determines the ideal temperature, but a good range to aim at is between about 14°-18°C. And serve lighter reds a little cooler than heavier reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon.
The exact amount of poured glasses to a bottle of wine is pretty well impossible to define. Many standard wine servings suggest four to six glasses of wine per 750ml bottle. Keep this in mind when buying for the group.
Think food friendly and affordable. This is particularly true if you are going to a larger, more casual party. Do not spend a lot here – you never know if it is going to be opened as soon as you walk in or who will be drinking it. Try to pick a food-friendly, versatile wine that will go well with a wide range of foods. While there are certain vintages that are expensive, it is relatively easy to find bottles that are not extremely high priced; with some searching, or asking close friends, you can buy first-rate red and white wines at prices below €10.
The holiday season brings with it the challenge of finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Wine accessories are important items that will help the enjoyment of wine – they can be practical gifts for birthday or Christmas presents.
There are many different wine accessories, which wine drinkers purchase in order to make their wine experience complete. The range of products includes wine coolers, wine buckets, champagne bowls, wine decanters, wine glasses, wine bottle stoppers, wine table mats, wine openers, wine foil cutters, wine racks, etc. Whether you are a keen wine enthusiast, a social wine drinker or simply wish to buy a present for a friend, you may find an interesting read in the following tips and advice.
. Wine makes a great holiday gift. It is portable. It is festive. It is timely, with people entertaining more during the holiday season. Wine can be quickly gift-wrapped and tied with a bow or slipped into a decorative paper or cloth wine bag. In addition, wine certainly is easy to find.
. If you end up with several opened but unfinished bottles of wine, there are ways to preserve them. One way is to refrigerate them. The cold climate will slow the chemical changes that are conspiring to turn your wine to vinegar. Another method is to transfer the leftover wine into a smaller bottle. This helps because a smaller bottle will have less wine-trashing air in it. You can also buy fancy vacuum contraptions that suck the air out of the bottle. Alternatively, perhaps best of all, you can gather the crowd around the table the next evening for a feast of leftovers and finish what you started.
Food Pairing with Monolithos wines:
The following constitutes a basic guide for Monolithos wines which could be best suited to some popular Christmas and holiday season foods. Of course, this is not definitive, but if you have trouble choosing, it may help to make up your mind.
First, in terms of white wine selection, choose one with an adequate amount of acidity and fruitiness to match your entrée. Monolithos White and Ayios Stephanos White belong to this category of wines, with Monolithos White having a higher level of acidity. If you are selecting a red wine, choose Monolithos Merlot or Monolithos Red, both of which have a sense of fruitiness and are relatively low in tannin.
Second, always try to match regional food with corresponding local wines. They work because they have developed together over time and so have a natural affinity for each other.
Monolithos White: This is a very good match with lots of seafood. It has a pleasant acidic tang, and makes seafood taste fresh, just like a bright squeeze of lemon! Remember that taste is a funny thing, and the wine that is best alone is not necessarily the best with food. For example, a white wine that seems too acidic on its own is often fabulous with creamy or salty foods, as the acid reduces the oiliness of the cream and the cream tempers the acid, resulting in significantly enhanced flavours for both.
Monolithos Red: This is ideal with tomato-based pasta sauce and pizza, as it does not shy away from the acid in the tomatoes, and is also highly agreeable with local dishes such as meat stew, “moussaka”, “souvlakia” and “shieftalia”.
Ayios Stephanos White: This works so well because of its Malvasia touch of sweetness, which can help take the sting off the heat of spicy dishes.
Santa Monica Rose: A fun holiday wine that is great to serve at a party. Not only is this rose visually appealing, but also the flavours are wonderfully fruity, containing a combination of blackberry, plum and strawberries. It offers a good match with a large number of cheeses, enhancing the contrast of flavours. It is a delicate rose wine, which is superb with turkey, ham or tuna steak and salmon.
Ayios Stephanos Red: This successful blend is sure to satisfy a wide range of wine lovers. It is a medium to full-bodied wine with predominantly fruity and berry flavours, leaving a pleasantly smooth feel. It is food-friendly, affordable, and highly recommended to accompany red meat dishes, poultry, pasta (particularly those dishes with tomato sauce), strong savoury cheeses or salads – this fine blend wine can handle them all well.
Monolithos Merlot: This is one of those wines that have come in fashion over the past decade. This smooth as silk premium red variety is the ideal wine for the committed white wine drinker to sample as an entrée into the rich and exciting world of reds. The taste/aroma is predominantly fruity and peppery with hints of blackberry, blackcurrant, raspberry and plum and a delightfully “silky” feel. It is extremely versatile when it comes to food pairing options, and is perfect to enjoy with Italian and Greek dishes, red meats such as steak and roast lamb, or a good white meat including duck or even a platter of fish if you so desire. Stews are also a good choice, as are hearty pastas that use a tomato sauce base. Other dishes include pasta with vegetables, chicken, turkey, couscous, veal, cheese courses and (hot or cold) spicy entrees.
Monolithos Shiraz: As a Christmas wine, it is highly recommended and top-rated. Its dark red spiciness is perfect for the winter holidays and is particularly good when served with grilled or roast lamb. It is also a perfect match to enjoy with red meat, white meat, and pizza/pasta dishes. Syrah is a very versatile wine that pairs well with a wide variety of foods, including wild game, richly flavoured red meats, beef stew, grilled meats or veggies and meat lover’s pizzas. It is terrific with filet mignon, pork dishes, sausages, BBQ, bacon, spicy Mexican, highly seasoned food and fish dishes, particularly those with shellfish and tuna. The 2008 vintage is a joy to drink and there is plenty of it – try it and you will understand why.
Monolithos Cabernet Sauvignon: Talk about wine royalty! It all began in Bordeaux and is the world’s best-known grape variety, which explains why it is right at the top of the vineyard hierarchy. The taste/aroma is predominantly blackcurrant and peppery, but variations include touches of redcurrant, plum or even blackberry. It is a perfect match with red meat dishes, including steak with rich sauces. The proteins and fats in the steak really soften and mellow out the tannins in the wine and bring forward the fruit flavours. Foods with a slight touch of bitterness (such as the bitterness from a grill) match well with tannic wines, which are slightly bitter. Cabernet Sauvignon is great for this, although you should take care that it does not utterly overwhelm the food. Basic vegetable dishes, vegetarian meals, salads and peppery foods as well as cheeses, particularly goat varieties hard and soft are good complements.
The above are time-tested pairings. All things being equal, we do believe this:
Your Christmas will be merrier, and your holiday season more gratifying as a whole, when you pair them with the best wines for the time of year. Very likely, you will hit on your own great matches as you go about experimenting with food and wine. Remember, even for a wine expert, the pairing process is a hit and a miss. No one can be certain what to expect when he or she opens a bottle of wine. With so much happening in the bottle, there are just too many variables at work to be certain. So just enjoy the experiment – and the experience. You will know when you have hit it just right. The experience will seem seamless: the flavours of the wine will pick up the flavours of the food and extend them out across the palate. That is chemistry for you.
Holiday parties can be hard to plan. However, with the above tips, you should at least have the wine list taken care of, leaving you free to worry about food and decor instead. More than anything, when this time of year is upon us, keep in mind that holidays are a time for camaraderie, family, and love – three entities that not even the most expensive vintage can rival. On the other hand, if you need a break from that hectic schedule of the holiday season, relax and enjoy a glass of wine as you curl up with your favourite book or TV programme while the cold north wind blows outside.
Now with the coming of the winter holidays and traditional feasts with a plentiful menu and many cheerful guests, it is an ideal time to try our multiple wines. Monolithos products cater for a wide range of palates because we believe that the consumer must have a choice. After all, the truth is that:
“If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul.”
Clifton Fadiman
If at any time you are passing near the village of Pachna and wish to visit the winery or purchase any of our products, Martin Wood will be pleased to meet and assist you at his “Fig Tree Villa” in Pachna, so do not hesitate to phone him at 25-816212 or 99-165995.
May the Holiday Season bring only happiness and joy to you and your loved ones! Cheers and seasons greetings from all of us here at Monolithos.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Cyprus Wine Blog - July 2009
Dear Friends of Monolithos,
Wine is a beverage that has been enjoyed for thousands of years as an accompaniment to meals. Over the past 30 years, more and more people seem to select wine as the beverage of choice at social engagements. Quality wine at affordable prices is increasingly easy to find. Thanks to globalization, the world of wine is filled with greater variety, good quality and more affordable prices. Wine has become part of our daily lives. It belongs on our tables, just like a loaf of bread or glassware. This everyday approach to wine is more of a European notion, but other nations are increasingly embracing the idea of wine as part of everyday life and culture.
It is predicted that the financial and economic crisis affecting many wine-consuming countries worldwide would have also consequences for the growth of the wine sector. However, lifestyle wine consumers are unlikely to give up wine during a recession because it would mean more than changing consumption patterns; it would mean sacrificing an important element of their carefully constructed identity. It is also expected that in the current tough economic crisis, price will become the key to most wine buying decisions. People continue to drink wine during hard economic times, but they place more emphasis on price and value. When the decline begins to bite, buyers are really lowering their budget and are looking for a €6 to €10 wine and make their purchases within a relatively narrow price range, regardless of other factors.
In the current recession, restaurant sales have been especially hard hit. Restaurants always take a pounding during economic downturns, and that is certainly true now. Wine is a tool to get people into restaurants. Wine drinking is an essential part of the experience of restaurant going. However, the pricing of wine in restaurants has always been a mystery. We all know that a bottle of wine at a restaurant is substantially more expensive than at a retail store. But just how expensive are the wines and what is a “fair” mark-up? This is a controversial topic that has been dominating wine discussions for several decades.
On average, a bottle of wine in a restaurant will cost nearly three times as much as it would at the supermarket, and it can be four (or more) times as much in some places. Also, one should take into consideration that the restaurants pay trade price for their wines, too. Ask any restaurateur why they have such huge mark-ups, and they will probably come out with the usual excuse – profit margins are small, hours are long, customers can be difficult, they only break even on the food, but the drinks are where they make their profit. Wine is simply a piece in the overall jigsaw from which the restaurateur makes enough gross profit to cover the often high establishment costs. These include paying the bills of butchers, bakers and candlestick-makers, let alone wine merchants. The restaurant also covers the wages for its chefs and serving staff, to say nothing of rent, rates, taxes and insurance. Restaurateurs claim that they make little money on food. Price for food covers not only food costs and wastage but also labour costs in the kitchen and services, the expense of equipment, electricity, gas, rent, etc.
Trying to understand wine prices and associated high mark-ups is not a simple task. Let us – for the sake of argument – look at some of restaurateurs’ claims. Most of them attempt to justify their high profit margins by arguing that they “add value” to the wine by providing cellaring and service. This might be reasonable if restaurants had to tie up capital in long-term storage of expensive stock, but in fact, most restaurants sell wines before they actually pay for them. This is because producers and wine merchants extend one or more month’s credit, and do not make a fuss if payment is delayed. The service of wine involves restaurants in little expense e.g. breakages or minimal staff time in serving. Restaurateurs choose the policy of short-term rather than long-term profit, resulting from increased wine consumption. Presumably, there are enough people who are either wealthy enough or who are on a generous enough expense account to be able to plunder the lower reaches of the wine list, thus giving the restaurants easy revenue which they are reluctant to lose.
One can easily detect that the current situation seems completely illogical. With food, the chef is doing something creative – good cooking is a complex and skilled process that involves transforming often simple and relatively inexpensive raw ingredients into something grand. In contrast, the procedure of serving wine in a restaurant is far less creative: whether you order the house wine, or a much grander one, the process of purchasing, storing and uncorking it is just the same for the restaurant. The huge mark-ups paid by the customer are an incredible amount to pay for wine. This almost always means that there is more profit in the wine than in all the other food combined.
Of course, some restaurateurs say the comparison between their prices and those of a store are invalid, insisting one has nothing to do with the other. They argue that all that a retailer does is put wine on the shelf. Restaurateurs argue that they do much more than just display bottles – they maintain inventories in often expensive storage locations, support producers too small to get space on retail shelves, offer great glassware and provide an invaluable education to their customers. However, it is one thing to take raw ingredients and craft a unique meal, yet entirely another matter to open a bottle and pour a glass a wine. Other than the process of selecting, storing and serving wine, a restaurant is doing nothing to enhance or add value to what is inside the bottle.
It is acknowledged that restaurants are in a very risky and price-sensitive business. Invariably, restaurant owners often say that the public doesn’t understand how high their costs are and that a healthy return on wine sales is a must if they are to show a profit. In general, restaurant food prices may be classified as reasonable but their wine prices are high. Therefore, the profit margin is transferred to wine. The customer likes his/her preferences on wine but also knows what is affordable to spend. Oenophiles are divided over many issues – the merits of “terroir” and grape varieties, the old world, the new world, the virtues of new oak, the role of the winemaker, the utility of special glasses – but they all seem to agree that restaurant wine prices are, on the whole, abusively high. As things stand at the moment, wine drinkers subsidise non-wine-drinkers.
But what is the mark-up a restaurant should consider “just,” and what is the price a consumer should be expected to comfortably pay for a bottle of wine? There is a tendency for restaurants to make as much money with as little effort as possible. In other words, they charge a few customers excessive prices, rather than fill their restaurants and charge reasonable prices. Restaurateurs’ dependence on their profits from wine is also shown by the way they try to force customers to drink as much as possible. It is common practice for waiters to refill glasses to the brim as soon as customers take a sip. What actually restaurants are relying on is consumer ignorance about wine. In the 50’s and 60’s, restaurateurs were able to get away with high mark-ups because at the beginning of the wine boom, people in most countries were not regular wine drinkers but were being introduced to it in restaurants, hence they were not aware of comparative retail prices of wine. Often, restaurants cleverly bought from “trade” lists so that the names or brands were different from the high street names, making comparisons more difficult.
Nowadays, a large number of restaurant-goers are put off from ordering wine when eating out, or at least as regularly as they otherwise might. One reason may be that there’s a lot of information about wine available today, including how much it costs. Anyone with Internet access can find almost any wine and compare a restaurant price to a retail price. As more consumers become knowledgeable about wine and associated retail prices, restaurants who are profiteering will suffer the consequences.
So far many restaurants price wine simply according to what they think they can get away with. But fashion also plays a part in the prices we pay. Trendy wines or those with a snob factor will always cost restaurateurs more to buy in the first place, so you will inevitably have to pay more to drink them with your meal. The classic French wine regions will always come at a price. Customers will pay a lot for “brand” names, such as Burgundy and Bordeaux , even if they aren’t classic vintages, because they are paying for the history and the reputation of the name. But there are other regions or wine producers that are currently “hot” and therefore expensive. In most cases, the fancier the restaurant, the higher they mark-up their wines.
Location also makes a big difference. Some of the biggest mark-ups are by restaurants in tourist areas or where wine connoisseurs with big expense accounts take the chance to taste expensive brand wines. It is known that leading restaurants and hotels sometimes charge customers up to five times more for bottles of wine than the amount they paid for them. The consequence is that only the particularly wealthy can afford to drink “out of the ordinary” wines when they go out to eat, a particularly frustrating situation for most wine lovers who feel they are being deprived of the right to choose.
There is also the snob value theory that a highly-priced wine is, to a certain kind of customer, a valuable signal that they are knowledgeable about something as important as wine, and are and willing to spend a lot of money on something that will impress the partner(s)/guest(s). Most people can’t afford €100 for a bottle of wine, and think it’s a little ridiculous to spend that much when they can be just as happy with a bottle that costs €15. Restaurants looking for strategies to survive the downturn ought to begin by cutting the prices on their wines. Who, in their right mind, really wants to pay €25 for a bottle he can purchase at the local supermarket for €6? Supply and demand is controlled by the buyer. A restaurant which puts emphasis on a good and fairly-priced wine list may find that it will attract a great deal more customers. The wine-buying public should seek out such establishments and prove it.
Nobody expects to pay shop prices for a bottle of wine in a restaurant, just as nobody expects to be ripped off. With the public becoming increasingly wine-savvy, it pays to evaluate the underlying pricing structure. Restaurants use various methods for pricing wine. Some will charge two or three times their cost of the bottle. Others will use a sliding scale, meaning the percentage of the mark-up is based on the cost of the wine. Consequently the first step to finding better deals on wine is to understand the formula behind most restaurant wine pricing. As things stand at the moment, the standard restaurant mark-up is about three times (300%, fixed percentage) the retail price, which means they make more profit on expensive than on cheap wines. So, if a bottle is purchased for €10, it is sold for €30 on the wine list. Percentage mark-up makes it easier for restaurants to determine economic performance if they can measure margins in terms of gross profit.
There are several examples of successful restaurants with mark-ups that are a fraction of those we see typically in the industry. In some restaurants, the mark-up decreases as the wholesale price of the bottle increases, so an inexpensive bottle might be priced three to four times its wholesale cost, while a pricey wine may be marked up only 1.5 times. This so-called progressive mark-up helps sell more expensive wines, although there is an argument against these types of margins – if people want rare wines, they can pay for them, and keep regular wines at a fair price.
Most sensible establishments prefer a graduated mark-up system to tempt customers. In this case, the highest mark-ups are generally made on the cheapest wines, but the highest cash margins are on wines that, paradoxically, represent the best value on the list.
The cash margin is, perhaps, the most attractive scheme for promoting wine, allowing the establishment to shift stock more quickly and generate more bankable profit, while at the same time creating a better customer experience, offering the customer optimum quality and real value. The pricing formula is: cash margin = fixed amount of cash added to cost price. If restaurants charge a flat mark-up rate regardless of the price of wines, this would encourage people to drink more and select the most appropriate wine with the meal. Surely it makes no difference for a restaurant if a diner who would have ordered the house wine switches to something far grander with an equal mark-up? The secret here, though, is to get good prices off your suppliers and carry smaller amounts of stock.
Another pricing strategy sometimes used by restaurateurs is the product-specific mark-up that is more internal to the business and may apply to wines such as local, imported country specific, house wines, old stock, etc, all of which can be sold at a smaller margin to encourage people to experiment.
The real problem with restaurants is that far too often, accountants, with no real knowledge or love of wine, take control of the lists. The quality of the wines or their suitability for matching the dishes available at the restaurant is seldom, if ever, taken into account. Having examined in some depth the various mark-up strategies in these difficult years, it is important that restaurants should realise that if they want customers to carry on dining out, then they need to lower their prices. A reasonably-priced wine mark-up system will help restaurants keep drink sales buoyant through the recession. Operators should employ varying philosophies to set their prices, but each should carefully aim at building volume and sales without alienating customers. One such strategy based on the sliding scale is briefly shown below:
Bottle cost Approx cost % Selling Price Net Profit
€4 33% €12 €8
€6 40% €15 €9
€8 45% €19 €11
€10 46% €22 €12
€15 50% €30 €15
€20 55% €36 €16
This style of margin will guarantee a minimum cash profit on every bottle of wine sold. It is obvious that as one moves up the wine list in price, bottles become better value to the customer. Facing a friendlier price environment, consumers may be willing to order more of both food and wine, so that the total tab may possibly be higher than it would be under a confiscatory wine price scheme. The restaurant owner will make up on volume what he loses on an individual bottle sale. Some countries are responding to the economic crisis by organising special “half-price wine nights” during mid week. It’s a tricky game, however, because the wrong strategy can produce lower sales revenues and fewer wine-enthusiast diners.
Needless to say, every manager needs to tailor wine pricing to the needs of the individual restaurant balanced by specific needs of the market and guests he is after. It’s not just pricing that achieves that. The wine list should include wines that differentiate the restaurant from the competition. The selected wines should match the food served in the establishment, staff should be trained to assist customers in their choice of wine, and the wine list should have compelling descriptions of the wines on offer.
Ordering wine in a restaurant can also be a daunting and confusing task. People look at the menu and make a decision. They do not usually look at the wine list and make a decision about eating at the restaurant based on that. The wine list displays something about the owners of the restaurant whether they have no love, or perhaps even basic knowledge, of wine. Wine is a unique beverage, an expression of terroir, vineyard practices, vintage conditions and winemaker, all rolled up in a single bottle. Despite this, many restaurateurs whose livelihood depends on wine mark-up seem to have no respect for it whatsoever. Perhaps, in their eyes, wine really is just a vehicle for fleecing the customer after all.
Price is a reflection of demand rather than quality. It goes without saying that everybody should be focusing on whether the wine list is well chosen, with interesting, original wines that suit the food. Quite often the information at your disposal is incomplete, incorrect or misleading. To compound the problem, few restaurants have serving staff who know enough about the wines to be of any help. Anyone can pick a great wine based upon a high price. However, finding a great wine for less is the true mark of a person who is knowledgeable about the subject. Normally, the classical economic behaviour will apply: the lower prices will result in higher consumption which could lead to greater restaurant profit. As well as offering quality, a good wine list will offer a choice of wines some common and some not so common. The wine list should be well written with details of each wine’s origin, producer and vintage as well as tasting notes and recommendations for food match-ups.
There are plenty of examples of successful restaurants with mark-ups that are a fraction of those we see typically in the industry. Restaurants should realise that if they want customers to carry on dining out then they need to lower their prices. There are several ways to go about this:
. Learn the better buys. For example, a wine from a small winery is not nearly in as much demand as Cabernet Sauvignon from a well-known brand. The bargains are better. Lesser known wines may be just as good as or better than the more expensive “name” brands.
. A number of restaurants and local taverns which are not located in the hottest spot of the town or in the tourist areas sell wine at a reasonable mark-up. So, look for value, not fashion, meaning look in the wine list for a good quality wine at a price that is far less than many other wines of the same quality.
. Avoid the restaurant with rip-off wine prices. When doing this, there will probably be a much better effect if you let the restaurant know what you are doing and why.
Supply and demand is controlled by the buyer. A restaurant which puts emphasis on a good and fairly-priced wine list may find that it will attract a great deal more customers. We, the wine-buying public, should seek out such establishments and prove it. Hopefully, restaurants will start listening to their customers and offer them a fair deal. In the end, what’s fair is what the customer is willing to pay.
Wine News and Information
. Wine consumption in the UK fell 2% in 2008, according to industry analysts. Market Research Company Mintel says public concern over binge drinking and rises in alcohol duty have caused a slump in sales which has put an end to years of growth. It suggests wine companies will have to expand the market among 25- to 34-year-olds to ensure future growth. However, the charity Alcohol Concern says that little can be read into the figures because the fall comes against a backdrop of record consumption.
. A report released in January by industry body Vinexpo revealed the UK was the world’s biggest importer of wine, with 1.6bn bottles being brought into the country during 2007. It said the economic downturn had led sales to drop 3.5% in the first nine months of last year and predicted market growth would halve to 6% by 2012. However, Mintel said consumption had fallen by 30m litres to 1.16bn litres in 2008 – the equivalent of 40 million bottles. Senior Drinks Analyst Jonny Forsyth said: “People are starting to drink less in the UK , which runs counter to what people think when they read reports about binge drinking. People are increasingly more sensitive to healthy lifestyles, and the government is using taxes and awareness campaigns to crack down on the effects of drinking.” Duty on a bottle of wine had increased 28p to £1.61 since 2007, he said.
Mr Forsyth did not blame the recession for the sales slump, saying the wine industry would have struggled to maintain growth in any case. He believes suppliers must target younger drinkers, aged 24 to 35, to encourage brand loyalty. This age group had helped boost sales of rose, which increased its market value from £110m to £527m over four years, thanks to its “accessibility” – it is seen as less confusing for those who are not regular wine drinkers. However, Nicolay Sorensen, director of policy and communications at Alcohol Concern, said people were still drinking too much. “Even though consumption may have gone down, the strength of wine has gone up over the years, so it’s probably having the same effect on people's health.” The charity is pressing for a mandatory alcohol sales code to force retailers to improve information available to customers and prevent those using loss-leading promotions, such as selling three bottles of wine for £10.
On the topic of targeting younger drinkers, he added: “This is exactly what was happening about 10 years ago when marketing companies identified female drinkers as a potential growth group. We have seen consequently women’s drinking go up and their alcoholic liver disease also go up to above the rate for the rest of Europe .”
. Scientists already knew that drinking red wine in moderation is good for your health; now they are figuring out why. New research is uncovering the disease-prevention secrets of a polyphenol called resveratrol, one of compounds in red wine that seems to improve health. Although the benefits have been touted for years, researchers weren’t sure how polyphenols, and resveratrol in particular, worked in the body. “The breadth of benefits is remarkable – cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases, such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity, and many more,” said Lindsay Brown, an associate professor of the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Queensland in Australia and co-author of a study that will appear in the September issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
Brown said scientists are beginning to understand how resveratrol does its work. Possible mechanisms include:
* High doses of the compound may prevent cancer by increasing the process of apoptosis (programmed cell death).
* Low doses improve cardiac health by increasing cellular protection and reducing damage.
* Resveratrol may help remove very reactive oxidants in the body and improve blood supply to cells.
. The lowest-alcohol wine currently available on the market will finally hit the shelves of UK wine merchants this summer. A Languedoc winery was given permission by the French government to export their wine to the UK . They have three wines: red, white and rose, all under the brand name “Plume,” which come in at 9% alcohol. Two years ago, they struck a deal with a chain of supermarkets for it to be sold in the UK , but French wine authorities argued that their reverse-osmosis de-alcoholisation process could not be legally exported as French wine. As a result, the product was recalled. The wine company has successfully challenged the ruling on two grounds. First, that exporting to the UK should not be classified by the EU as “export” because it remains within the EU’s borders. Second, from 1 August 2009, it has been agreed that their reverse-osmosis de-alcoholisation technique will be classed as a legitimate experimental technique for wine production. These dual rulings mean that the low-alcohol wine will be available in the UK this summer.
Monolithos Monthly News
Pachna, located 15 km from the sea and at a height of 750 metres, has a typical Mediterranean climate with hot summers, often over 30°C with cool breezes from the Troodos mountains and/or breezes from the south which are important for the hilly vine-growing areas. Vineyards involve labour all year round, and grape farmers take pride in maintaining their vineyards by the season in the hope that their efforts will produce the sweetest grapes.
During summer, some grape farmers use pesticides to manage insects (which is one reason why it is always so important to wash grapes thoroughly before eating). Other farmers mow regularly between the rows of vines, clipping the young seedlings or “suckers” by hand. Clipping small seedlings growing around the base of the main vines is not a difficult task, but it takes time and is best performed during early morning or late evening in order to avoid the hot sun. This method is preferred by many because it keeps the end product free of toxins and gives farmers the pleasure of getting to know their vineyards.
Another important task during summer is determining the time of harvest. This involves evaluating the ripeness of the grape as measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels, with winemakers basing their decision to pick based on the style of wine they wish to produce.
At the winery, the month of July is devoted to inspection, maintenance, cleaning and sanitizing of all areas, equipment, tanks, machinery and systems. Cleaning and sanitizing during processing is vital. Inside the winery, the floor is checked for cracks and low spots (where water or juice may accumulate) and repairs are carried out, since postponing any refurbishment only makes the problem worse. The walls and ceilings are checked for mould growth and other foreign material and are thoroughly cleaned.
Equipment used during the harvesting season, such as the crusher, press, pumps, chiller, etc are also checked and tested to make sure they are in good working order. Breakdown of key equipment, such as the above, can be disastrous. It is therefore crucial to see that the equipment is in sound working order, as for nine months of the year, most of it is in storage. These items are disassembled as much as possible, then cleaned and sanitized thoroughly using a steam cleaner.
All of us at Monolithos Winery wish everyone a happy summer. Remember that all our wines are available for tasting or purchasing from your regular point of sale or directly from us. If at any time you are passing near the village of Pachna and wish to visit the winery or sample any of our products, Martin Wood will be pleased to meet and assist you at his “Fig Tree Villa” in Pachna, so do not hesitate to phone him at 25-816212 or 99-165995.
Regards from all of us here at Monolithos and always remember:
“One not only drinks wine – one smells it, observes it, tastes it, sips it and – one talks about it.”
King Edward VII
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Intro...
It is a pleasure to announce that as from now, I shall be producing a regular bulletin under the title “Wine Dimensions”, aimed at oenophiles and friends on all aspects related to wine, and in particular to Cyprus wines and my production here at the Monolithos Winery, in Pachna.
Why “Wine Dimensions”?
Wine is many things. It is art, science, friendship, passion and love. A glass of wine can be a lesson in history, tradition, geography, culture, medicine, philosophy, psychology, religion and much more. It is, therefore, a multidimensional subject .Wine has been around for thousands of years, from ancient civilization to modern times and it has been enjoyed by many – from peasants to kings.
It is only necessary to visit a wine shop to realise the immense variety of wines available on the market. It is part of Wine Dimensions’ mission to help you select what to buy for your cellar, or something to accompany your pizza, or what to choose for a special occasion. However, wine lovers tend to be more interested than the average consumer in how their product is made. Furthermore, for a full appreciation of wine, we need to understand the varying elements that create it. While wine-making can be complex, its essential purpose is to deliver pleasure, either by itself, or as part of a meal.
But perhaps one of the best things about wine culture is the habit of asking questions. Please share your comments, questions and suggestions on any aspect of wine. Ideas for future articles are also most welcome.
I hope to disseminate information that will interest and enthuse you and make you feel part of the exciting world of wines, and more specifically the wines of Cyprus. I aspire to be informative, personal and frank; to convey the joie-de-vivre of wine with a cultural perspective. I don’t pretend to know everything about wine, but fortunately, there is no right or wrong when it comes to wine opinion. Wine, like life itself, is a long series of many shades of grey, more than black and white. However, not many will dispute the truth of Benjamin Franklin’s words:
“Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried with fewer tensions and more tolerance.”
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